Scientists take step toward developing Terminator-like vision

You’ve probably seen The Terminator, and if you haven’t you’re missing some good science fiction. One of the coolest parts of the movie, which came out more than a quarter century ago, was Ahh-nold’s glasses, which displayed information about his surroundings.

The view looked something like this:

Such a cool movie. (Orion Pictures)

Well, a new paper (see abstract) in the Journal of Micromechanics and Microengineering brings us closer to that reality.

In the paper the scientists describe how they have constructed a computerized contact lens that can display information, safely, when put into an eye.

Of course at this point there’s just one pixel of information, but this is an important proof of concept, say the researchers. The next step is to make lenses with multiple pixels that could be used to display short emails and text messages.

From there it may not be too much of a leap to imagine a wireless link between the lens, your phone and Google or other information sources to provide information about buildings, streets and your surroundings.